Pictures of Hate: Representing Crime, Bigotry, and Violence in Children's Literature

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 60
  In Roundtable Session: Representation and Omission: Medium, Genre, and Identity in Children’s and Young Adult Literature

Abstract

This paper examines picture-book representations, as well as the absence of picture-book representations, of hate-based crime, bigotry, and violence. Although the United States has seen an unprecedented spike in hate-related incidents directed over the last year toward Black, Muslim, Jewish, LGBTQ, immigrant, and other non-White citizens, only a limited number of resources exist to help educators and parents address these realities within and beyond the classroom. Given the potential of picture books to transform and enhance children’s perceptions of the world around them, this combined content analysis and theoretical discussion intends to raise awareness about how texts that depict hate can serve as vehicles for social justice.

Author

• Katherine M. Sciurba, San Diego State University